1.91%of the assessed value on your MPAC notice, each year
$9,551 a yearon a $500,000 home, or about $796 a month
Higher than 86% of the 414 Ontario municipalities
Each dot is one municipality, placed by its newest filed rate. Further right is higher.
Owen Sound 1.91%
Middle 1.40%10 more, up to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Owen Sound
Middle 1.40%10 more, to 6.85%
0.5%1.0%1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%
Lowest fifth
Low
Middle fifth
High
Highest fifth
Owen Sound
Owen Sound in short
$9,551 a year on a $500,000 home: $6,910 to Owen Sound council, $1,875 to Grey County and $765 to schools.
Up 0.20 points since 2019, or $988 a year more on a $500,000 home.
Rent $930 a month, home value $400,000 in the 2021 Census, against an Ontario middle of $980 and $400,000.
Owen Sound has not filed 2025 with the province yet, so this page uses 2024, the newest year it has filed.
Every municipality is compared at its newest filed rate: 283 of the 414 have filed 2025.
Who sets the rate
Three bodies set Owen Sound's rate: Owen Sound council at 1.38%, Grey County at
0.38%, and the Province of Ontario for schools. The county portion is
20% of the bill, set by a council you vote for separately.
$6,910$1,875
Portion
Rate
On $500,000
Share
MunicipalOwen Sound council
1.38%
$6,910
72%
County or regionGrey County
0.38%
$1,875
20%
EducationProvince of Ontario
0.15%
$765
8%
Total
1.91%
$9,551
100%
Each rate is rounded to two decimals, so the parts can add up to 0.01 off the total.
How the rate has changed, 2019–2024
Up every year since 2019. Since 2019 the total rate here has risen by 0.20 percentage points, from 1.71% to 1.91%. On a $500,000 home that is $988 a year more than in 2019.
20191.71%$8,563
20201.74%$8,678
20211.77%$8,837
20221.81%$9,068
20231.84%$9,191
20241.91%$9,551
Total residential rate, with the tax on a $500,000 home underneath.Each part of the rate, year by year
Over the same years the residential assessment base moved from $1,517M to
$1,593M, and the residential levy collected went from $26M
to $30M. A rate rising while the base also grows means the budget grew faster than
property values; a rate falling while the base grows usually means the opposite. Assessment is the figure on the
MPAC notice, still based on 2016 values province-wide.
Year
Municipal
County or region
Education
Total
Change
On $500,000
2019
1.23%
0.32%
0.16%
1.71%
—
$8,563
2020
1.25%
0.33%
0.15%
1.74%
+0.02 pts
$8,678
2021
1.28%
0.34%
0.15%
1.77%
+0.03 pts
$8,837
2022
1.31%
0.35%
0.15%
1.81%
+0.05 pts
$9,068
2023
1.33%
0.35%
0.15%
1.84%
+0.02 pts
$9,191
2024
1.38%
0.38%
0.15%
1.91%
+0.07 pts
$9,551
Why are Owen Sound property taxes so high?
Owen Sound's total rate of 1.91% is 0.51 percentage points above the provincial middle (1.40%). A rate that high usually means the assessment base is small relative to what the budget must cover: $1.59B of taxable residential value funds $30.4M in levy here.
Home values
Homes here are assessed at $149,302 per household, 46% less than the middle ($274,250). Lower values mean it needs a higher rate to raise the same money.
Spending
It spends $5,834 per household, 35% more than the middle ($4,313). It spends more on police (+$896), fire (+$230) and water and wastewater (+$222), and less on roads and bridges (−$470) and running the municipality (−$144).
← Less than the middleMore than the middle →
Police+$896
Fire+$230
Water and wastewater+$222
Roads and bridges−$470
Running the municipality−$144
More on why
Who gets the money
Of that rate, 0.38% goes to Grey County and 0.15% to schools; 1.38% is set by Owen Sound itself.
Across Ontario
Across the 241 towns inside a county or region, the tax rate follows home values much more closely than spending: where homes are worth more, rates tend to be lower (rank correlation −0.70 for home values, 0.45 for spending). A pattern, not proof of cause.
What it costs to live in Owen Sound
Cost
Owen Sound
Ontario middle
Rent, per monthmedian, 2021
$930Lower than 59% of 354
$980
Home valueowners’ estimate, 2021
$400,000The same as the middle
$400,000
Property tax on a $500,000 assessment2024
$9,551Higher than 86% of 414
$6,992
Households spending 30% or more on housingshare of income, 2021
24.3%Higher than 93% of 400
15.0%
Household incomemedian, before tax, 2020
$63,200Lower than 92% of 405
$84,000
Ontario has no official cost-of-living index for single towns. Statistics Canada’s consumer price index covers only Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay here, and it measures change over time, not the gap between places. These are the costs published for each municipality: what renters paid and owners estimated in the 2021 Census, not today’s asking rents or sale prices.
Places like Owen Sound
The 5 places closest to Owen Sound on total tax rate, assessment / household, spending per household, population, 5-year growth, people per household, among towns inside a county or region.
Residential is one of 12 classes Owen Sound reported this year. The tax ratio is the multiple
applied to the residential rate: a ratio of 1.7 on multi-residential means an apartment building pays 1.7×
what a house pays on the same assessed value.
Class
Tax ratio
Municipal
County or region
Education
Total
Pipeline
2.959825
4.09%
1.11%
0.88%
6.08%
Industrial
1.831
2.53%
0.69%
0.88%
4.10%
Large Industrial
1.831
2.53%
0.69%
0.88%
4.10%
Commercial
1.71542
2.37%
0.64%
0.88%
3.89%
Office Building
1.71542
2.37%
0.64%
0.88%
3.89%
Parking Lot
1.71542
2.37%
0.64%
0.88%
3.89%
Shopping Centre
1.71542
2.37%
0.64%
0.88%
3.89%
Multi-Residential
1.33895
1.85%
0.50%
0.15%
2.51%
New Multi-Residential
1
1.38%
0.38%
0.15%
1.91%
Residential
1
1.38%
0.38%
0.15%
1.91%
Farmland
0.25
0.35%
0.09%
0.04%
0.48%
Managed Forest
0.25
0.35%
0.09%
0.04%
0.48%
Sources and method
Tax rates and spending come from the Financial Information Return that Owen Sound files with the Province of Ontario; population, rents and home values from Statistics Canada.
Every source, the method and the limits
Tax rates
Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 22 GPL — Municipal and School Board Taxation. Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Municipal Act s.294(1). Years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024; retrieved 2026-10-11.
Download the file
Spending, households
Financial Information Return Schedule 40 (consolidated expenses by function) and Schedule 02 (households and population).
Population
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0155-01, Population estimates, July 1, by census subdivision. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Rent, home value, income
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Statistics Canada Open Licence. Rent is the median monthly shelter cost of renter households (rent plus any utilities they pay).
The Ontario middle is the median across the municipalities with a published figure.
Method
Dollar figures are the rate times $500,000 of assessed value. Standing compares Owen Sound's 2024 total
residential rate with all 414 Ontario municipalities: 57 of the other 413 charge more. The five colours split them into fifths.
Municipality ID
MunID 42059, MAH 47101
Limits
These are the figures Owen Sound filed with the province. An individual bill can include area-specific charges and
local improvement levies that a municipality-wide rate does not capture. Reference, not tax advice.